Batman: The Fall Of Gotham City
by strike3youdie
Summary: **A new story of the Batman mythos. New characters are/will be created.** A dark night in Gotham. A new villain with a dastardly plan, working with the Joker. An escape of Batman's most notorious villains. Can Batman save Gotham before it falls? Can he keep himself from doing the same?
1. Prologue: The Dark Night

It was a dark and stormy night, the rain falling in droplets and soaking the masked man's outfit.

He didn't want to be here; the reason for him being here was that he _had_ to be. It would happen at this spot, here, in Crime Alley. He could hear the applause from the Monarch Theatre not fifty feet from him. He wasn't too sure what was playing- it was probably some cut-rate comedy.

From the darkness around the corner emerged the other half of this fateful meeting. The clown-man, makeup masking his face, with a smile stretching from ear to ear.

"Well hello there," the clown said, grinning like a madman with a freshly-sharpened knife. His voice was of a high, chuckling pitch, which grated on the man's eardrums.

"You're late," said the man, a chiding tone in his voice.

"I would've loved to arrive sooner, but, you know... the _traffic_."

"Did you make the arrangements I told you to?"

"Of course," said the clown, reassuringly. "I'm better than your average crony, after all. I'm The Joker, for Pete's sake."

"That's precisely what I'm worried about. I hear you have a tendency to slack on the follow-through. But, seeing as I don't have any time to make sure everything's done, I'll have to trust you."

"Excellent. Trust is key in a relationship. Although I don't even know what to call you."

"You can call me Vapor. Any more details of my identity are not important. Now," Vapor pulled back the slide on the handgun he had been holding in case the clown tried anything, "let's go get the Bat."

N

THE FALL OF

GOTHAM CITY


	2. The Visit

Bruce Wayne awoke at 2:54 a.m. to the phone on his bedside ringing. It was Alfred, calling from the house's entryway.

"Sir, Jim Gordon would like to speak with you."

"Can't it wait until morning?"

"Its extremely urgent, sir. I believe he said something about an escape at Arkham."

Bruce slammed the phone back onto the receiver, grumbling as he sat up on the side of his bed. He slipped on a pair of house slippers and headed downstairs to meet Gordon.

"How are you doing, Bruce?" Gordon met Bruce with a firm handshake.

"What is this about?"

"We've had an escape at Arkham. By our count, we lost ten big guys and countless more basic prisoners."

"Do you have any names?"

Gordon panned through the file folder in his hand. "Fries, Nigma, Joker, Bane, Tetch, Sionis, and Zsasz. There were three more, but they never made it off the island." Gordon closed the folder. "We need the Batman."

Bruce gave him a mild glare.

"Our police force as it stands now, what with about half of it out of town at a summit, just isn't capable of chasing down all these criminals. _We need the Batman_."

Bruce sighed. He didn't _want_ to chase down seven supercriminals at 3 a.m., but he couldn't bear to imagine what would happen if they were left alone until sunrise.

"I'll see what I can do."

Alfred followed him into the Batcave.

"What's your plan here, Master Wayne?"

"Chase down the criminals and put them back in Arkham. Simple." A glass display case housing his outfit slid out of the floor below him. He began to get into it as Alfred spoke.

"I'd be careful if I were you sir. I've heard stories lately of a new villain in Arkham. A mercenary by the name of Vapor."

"Has anyone caught him yet?" He nearly had the body piece on.

"No, and that's what troubles me. If he can elude police custody for months, who knows what he could do to the Batman."

"What does he look like?"

"He has a mask covering all of his face save for his eyes. Kevlar vest, Army boots."

"Ex-military?"

"Most likely, but we can't be sure."

Bruce had finished stepping into the Batman outfit. He stretched the cowl over his face and made sure his gloves and boots were secure.

"I'll get him, Alfred. I'll get all of them."

He opened the giant double doors at the end of the Batcave and stepped into the Batmobile.

"Trust me."

And with that, he took off into the night, Alfred standing right where he had been for the past three minutes.


End file.
